Jim Boeheim Takes A Stance On Gun Control, Wright and Calhoun Join In

Update: Retired UConn Basketball coach Jim Calhoun joined in with a statement to the New Haven Register. He said:

“I don’t think there’s any politics about gun control. In my opinion, nobody should have an automatic weapon unless they’re … protecting the country. The idea that children would be faced with that, or teachers that were trying to help them … there are other things in my lifetime that I can explain – a distraught kid, a fired employee. But this is so nonsensical.”

Update: Jim Boeheim went on ESPN’s SportsCenter today to talk about his 900th win and in the process, brought his discussion about gun control to a National audience.

Boeheim went on to say that he’s gotten nothing but positive support from the community and has even heard from a few political figures who agree with his stance. He also said that last night’s post-game stance on gun control wasn’t necessarily planned, but it’s all he’s been able to think about over the past few days. He’s obviously very rattled, like many of us, by the Sandy Hook tragedy.

Update: It should be noted that Villanova’s Jay Wright tweeted out a similar statement this morning:

Cannot comprehend any reason for assault weapons to be legal in any way.

Yesterday: In the wake of earning his 900th career win as a head coach, Jim Boeheim took a firm stand about gun control after last week’s tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. He had this to say in the post-game press conference:

“This will probably offend some people but … if we in this country as Americans can not get the people who represent us to do something about firearms, we are a sad, sad society. I’m a hunter, I’ve hunted, I’m not talking about rifles, that’s fine. If one person in this world, NRA president or anybody can tell me why we need assault weapons with 30 shots … this is our fault. This is my fault and your fault … all your faults… Someone in a state came out and said we need more guns, we don’t need less and we need to give teachers guns so they can shoot people. Yeah, that’s really good thinking to do that (sarcasm). If we can’t get this thing done, I don’t know what kind of country we have. Because this is about us, this isn’t about the president or other people down there. We need to make them understand, somehow, that this needs to get figured out real quick, not six months from now.”